Not since the Mexican Revolution 100 years ago has Mexcio suffered violence like that which is sweeping the country in 2010. According to the newspaper Reforma, 10,000 men, women and children have been executed from January through the end of October in 2010, more than in all six years of the Vicente Fox administration and almost as many as in 2008 and 2009 together.

If we continue at this rate we will end this year with over 12,000 executions linked to organized crime and that does not include the thousands of missing whose bodies will never be found.

Forty Five percent of these murders occurred in two states: Chihuahua, with 2,797 executions, and Sinaloa with 1,795. Guerrero followed with 786 executions, Durango with 700, and Tamaulipas with 653 dead, all of these linked to organized crime.

Many cities and states are breaking all records of violence. Such is the case of Nuevo Leon, Tijuana and Mexico City.

Only one state has been spared, Yucatan, and even states that in previous years were free of this violence are now engulfed. Such is the case of Tlaxcala, Baja California Sur, Campeche and Aguascalientes. Although officials deny it and say that violence is concentrated in a few areas, the reality is that it has reached all corners of the country.

In Chihuahua, where the Army has replaced the police in anti-organized crime operations within most of the state, there have been 2,800 excutions recorded so far this year. The state will end the year with more than 3,000 executions.

In 2007, Chihuahua reported 148 executions, an average of one every two and half days. This year, the rate of killings in the state has grown to almost ten per day.

Nuevo León, once a symbol of progress and tranquility, has suffered 524 executions through the end of October, double the number of those recorded in the previous three years combined(2007 thru 2009).

In Tamaulipas the figure for 2010 is three times higher than in the previous three years combined.

Sinaloa, traditionally the bloodiest state in Mexico, will likely end the year with more than 2,000 executions, almost as much as the three previous years combined.

And so on and on. Sonora, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, San Luis Potosi, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, State of Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, Queretaro, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Quintana Roo have all broken records for executions in the first 10 months of 2010.

Mexico City, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Campeche will beat their records by the end of the year.

The Reforma newspaper said that for the first ten months of 2010 52 of those executed are military, 637 were federal, state and municipal police, 798 people were tortured, decapitaded and/or dismembered. 674 executions were accompanied by “narco” banners containing threats or claims by rival criminal groups.

And there have been at least 25 mass murders with more than ten victims.

The violence has victimized hundreds of innocent women and children. So far this year nearly 700 women have died as a result of the rampant violence in our country. And there are also hundreds of deaths of those the government calls "collateral damage" ranging from children on holiday to patients in drug rehabilitation centers and innocent civilians killed at military checkpoints, and even some killed by stray bullets.

However, the worst of it is not the more than 10,000 people dead so far this year, but three other circumstances that have come to define us.

First, we have lost the sense of shock. Today, neither the worst masacres move us, nor the worst tragedies strike us, not even 10,000 deaths are capable of moving us as a society or politically, starting with President Calderón.

The second is that not a single criminal has been convicted in a single case of the 10,000 who have died. Sure, many have paid for their crimes with their lives, but not at the hands of the investigating authorities. They have died at the hands of other narcos.

But the worst is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, there are no signs that the crisis is improving; no, quite the opposite. And neither in action or discourse is there a recognition of the depth of the crisis, from the Secretary of the Economy to that of Tourism, from the President of the Republic to the Director of the Bank of Mexico, all of them like ostriches, with their heads in the sand, “nothing happens here” or “business as usual” as the Americans say.

Only when a someone like Hillary Clinton criticizes their strategy or compares us with Colombia do they fell any pain, much more than they feel for the dead, the disappeared, tortured, beheaded or the “collateral damage”. Those that can no longer speak do not raise the awareness of our authorities.

The second Mexican revolution can’t seem to awaken the conscience of those who govern us.

6 comments:

Yesterday a article in BB about the fear of the Mexican beuaracy that the US would somehow intervene in Mexican malfunction anger against the US,today a article about the lack of response from Mexican govt and that progress has not been made? I see confusion and a lack of commitment,where is the support for the only govt Mexico has? Journalist since before watergate have been negative feeling their job is to expose the inherent shortcomings of govt. Mexico needs to support the REVOLUTION ,which just may bring the standards of Mexico into the 21st century. Going back to the comfort zone of deciet,manipulation,---

In my opinion, the only way a revolution can succeed is for the common citizens to support it and fight for it. The current state of Mexico is horrendous. If in fact the government wants to see an end to all this fighting, they need to empower their people; arm them, train them, and rally some sense of national pride to motivate them to stand toe to toe with these animals. That is essentially how their last revolution was won. However nowadays, the governing class is not willing to empower their poor countryman. The governing/upper class has worked themselves into a corner; they can empower the poor and have them fight, and run the risk of losing control of the government, such as the French Revolution. Or they could enlist the help other nations, and risk losing their nations sovereignty. Either way, Mexico as we know it is bound to change. This is just my opinion.

That's right the elite rich of Mexico don't want the poor to gain power and the poor in Mexico are gaining power(drug cartels), the rich fear this upcoming class. The problem in Mexico is NOT the drug trafficking organizations but the corrupt officials,judges and elite class that are bought off by both drug cartels and elite rich alike. The elite rich in Mexico are realizing they aren't untouchable like they thought they were especially since the kidnapping of Diego(an elite corrupt politician).

The poor guy who died last week defending his ranch is a great example of decent people giving their life for what is right.What about the town that killed a coule of kidnappers 2 months ago. You are absolutley right about all of us having the ability to defend ourselves. Most govts are against a armed poblic look at Switzerland where you are required to have military guns and practice?? Switzerland one of the MOST stable countrys in the world. Progressives cringe intellectuals make fun but the facts are that where the public can defend itsself law and order exists. Mexico is a political govt beaucratic nightmare no only for its people but for gringos who try and do business with them. Reform needs to include a right to own guns---

Check the numbers, so far we have more than 40,000 people dead thanks to the "war on drugs" policy in my country. It is 2011 and the death count keeps rising. Official numbers estimate 40,000 deaths, in reality this number probably goes up to 80,000 if you count the missing persons or other murders that have been covered by the controlled media.

I'm mexican and I'm sick of what capitalism and greed is doing to my country and my people.